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[Antioch]

You know why I don't like this game?

Because I feel that within a day I could design an interface that doesn't suck as hard as the one in Dominions.

All the potential the game has is ruined by a refusal of the makers to acknowledge the importance of a good user interface.

Does the game even have waypoints for move orders?

Have you played Dwarf Fortress?


In reality though, you're right. Everything seems like a hold over from the first game with only minor graphical and UI improvements.

Let's face it, interface is a serious weakness in DF too, there are few people that seriously play DF without third party management tools.

[Shadowlord]

I played DF before those tools existed, along with plenty of other people, as far back as the last 2d version (which is when Boatmurdered was too), but the interface was simpler then (fewer overcomplicated screens to deal with).

I can't deal with DF's military screens now, with or without the third party tools.

The only real problems I have with Dom4 are things like not being able to select 20 mages and set their script orders on the army management screen at once instead of having to do them all individually.

Also not remembering where I targeted spells last turn if the reports don't tell me, but the game uses so little resources that running two copies at once, with one loading the previous turn, is no huhu.

[Micro102]

Kill the caster?

I have very little access to commander assassination abilities and their capital is too far away for me to reach without going to war with 2 other nations. The best access I have are some indie astral mages for mind hunting but they keep going feeble minded. Even if I had some other methods I can just imagine the dozens upon dozens of mound kings they have stored up.

From what I can tell, the devs never bothered to set the AI to see this enchantment as a threat, so they ignore it and make it impossible for the human to win. Wasn't this also a huge problem in Dom 3? Seems like something that should be fixed.

[EuchreJack]

You know why I don't like this game?

Because I feel that within a day I could design an interface that doesn't suck as hard as the one in Dominions.

All the potential the game has is ruined by a refusal of the makers to acknowledge the importance of a good user interface.

Does the game even have waypoints for move orders?

Have you played Dwarf Fortress?


In reality though, you're right. Everything seems like a hold over from the first game with only minor graphical and UI improvements.

Let's face it, interface is a serious weakness in DF too, there are few people that seriously play DF without third party management tools.

Eh, I find Dwarf Fortress easy enough.  It's the Third Party management tools I don't understand.

Kill the caster?

I have very little access to commander assassination abilities and their capital is too far away for me to reach without going to war with 2 other nations. The best access I have are some indie astral mages for mind hunting but they keep going feeble minded. Even if I had some other methods I can just imagine the dozens upon dozens of mound kings they have stored up.

From what I can tell, the devs never bothered to set the AI to see this enchantment as a threat, so they ignore it and make it impossible for the human to win. Wasn't this also a huge problem in Dom 3? Seems like something that should be fixed.

Uh, have you mentioned what nation you are playing?  Can't give good advice without knowing that.
In my limited single player experience, its all about thugging.  Unlike a human opponent, the AI will never figure out how to kill off your thugs and Supercombatants, so they can just tear through the masses of units that the AI gets to make up for its lack of ability.

The AI and peace is definitely a tricky thing.  Bascially, each AI nation is at peace with the player until either the AI nation declares war on the player or the player attacks the AI nation.  Then the AI is at war with the Player FOREVER.  So I understand your reluctance to declare war.

That being said, provincial defenses supported by a small force of national troops and a mage can generally hold back the AI nations forever, so the waves of attacks aren't as big a threat as they may initially appear.  Plus, whatever nation is wasting its gold on trying to assault your provinces is going to be weak to its AI nation neighbors, who will probably do the bulk of the conquering for you.

But again, it all depends on your nation.  Some actually get worse when they try to use their nation's troops, lol.  And some have mages that should never see a battlefield (although most magic paths bring something to battle, even at Level 1).

[Shadowlord]

If you can cast gift of health, or empower and boost someone until they can cast it, that would protect you from burden of time inside your own dominion.

Nature and/or earth is ideally suited to fighting ma ermor, I think.

MA ulm also, with their priest smiths' iron blizzards.

Another way to remove a global spell is to cart a new one when there are already five active - a random one will be replaced, but since that's only a 20% chance of erasing the spell you want, it's not something I have really ever gambled on.

[E. Albright]

In reality though, you're right. Everything seems like a hold over from the first game with only minor graphical and UI improvements.

Ha. You think that, but if you go back and play Dom1 or Dom2 now, you'll change your mind soon enough. I went back and did so in the spring, I think, and it was almost painful. The look and feel hasn't changed much since Dom2, and hasn't changed entirely since Dom1, but the UI has seen meaningful quality-of-life improvements with every iteration, and graphics have improved slowly but steadily. Definitely evolutionary changes and not revolutionary ones, but changes have consistently occurred.

Eh, I find Dwarf Fortress easy enough.  It's the Third Party management tools I don't understand.

Same. Sadly. Back in my day, get off my lawn, etc.

The AI and peace is definitely a tricky thing.  Bascially, each AI nation is at peace with the player until either the AI nation declares war on the player or the player attacks the AI nation.  Then the AI is at war with the Player FOREVER.  So I understand your reluctance to declare war.

It depends on the provocation, actually. If the AI starts the war and you don't aggressively pursue it, sometimes it'll quietly revert back to peace. It helps if you share a border with strong (25+) PD so it doesn't immediately re-start the war, though. Strong border PD is the #1 way to prolong peace with the AI.

[Micro102]

You know why I don't like this game?

Because I feel that within a day I could design an interface that doesn't suck as hard as the one in Dominions.

All the potential the game has is ruined by a refusal of the makers to acknowledge the importance of a good user interface.

Does the game even have waypoints for move orders?

Have you played Dwarf Fortress?


In reality though, you're right. Everything seems like a hold over from the first game with only minor graphical and UI improvements.

Let's face it, interface is a serious weakness in DF too, there are few people that seriously play DF without third party management tools.

Eh, I find Dwarf Fortress easy enough.  It's the Third Party management tools I don't understand.

Kill the caster?

I have very little access to commander assassination abilities and their capital is too far away for me to reach without going to war with 2 other nations. The best access I have are some indie astral mages for mind hunting but they keep going feeble minded. Even if I had some other methods I can just imagine the dozens upon dozens of mound kings they have stored up.

From what I can tell, the devs never bothered to set the AI to see this enchantment as a threat, so they ignore it and make it impossible for the human to win. Wasn't this also a huge problem in Dom 3? Seems like something that should be fixed.

Uh, have you mentioned what nation you are playing?  Can't give good advice without knowing that.
In my limited single player experience, its all about thugging.  Unlike a human opponent, the AI will never figure out how to kill off your thugs and Supercombatants, so they can just tear through the masses of units that the AI gets to make up for its lack of ability.

The AI and peace is definitely a tricky thing.  Bascially, each AI nation is at peace with the player until either the AI nation declares war on the player or the player attacks the AI nation.  Then the AI is at war with the Player FOREVER.  So I understand your reluctance to declare war.

That being said, provincial defenses supported by a small force of national troops and a mage can generally hold back the AI nations forever, so the waves of attacks aren't as big a threat as they may initially appear.  Plus, whatever nation is wasting its gold on trying to assault your provinces is going to be weak to its AI nation neighbors, who will probably do the bulk of the conquering for you.

But again, it all depends on your nation.  Some actually get worse when they try to use their nation's troops, lol.  And some have mages that should never see a battlefield (although most magic paths bring something to battle, even at Level 1).

I am playing as MA Ulm. I know my army would obliterate them 1v1, but I was already at war and going to war with 2 more mighty AI while trying to take out Ermor seemed like a very very bad idea.

[Shadowlord]

You can probably destroy them with a couple iron angel SCs kitted out for crowd control (provided they carry a supply item). If you have earth blood deep well up, and hammers for your smiths, you can pop those out and kit them up ridiculously fast. The learning curve there is probably in figuring out what will actually make them survive and be effective against your enemies.

[Micro102]

You can probably destroy them with a couple iron angel SCs kitted out for crowd control (provided they carry a supply item). If you have earth blood deep well up, and hammers for your smiths, you can pop those out and kit them up ridiculously fast. The learning curve there is probably in figuring out what will actually make them survive and be effective against your enemies.

I'm not following. How would A couple of iron angles let me reach the enchantment caster inside their capital?

[Shadowlord]

I was thinking more along the lines of destroying all their armies and conquerering their entire nation, but sure, they could fly across their territory to get to the caster instead, I suppose, but one alone wouldn't be able to hold all the items they'd need to both survive in ermor's territory (endless bag of wine, an N1 misc item), not suck in battle (ring of regen (misc item) and vine shield at least, both N2 items, along with a fire brand, probably), and to break down castle walls (wall shaker (A3 misc item which you probably can't make) or gate cleaver (E3 2h wpn which you probably can)). Plus you'd probably want to try to give any iron angels you send armor, helmet, and boots that would help them in some fashion as well - say, by boosting their defense to make it harder for the undead to hit them at all, or by giving them quickness (jade armor, W2E1, I don't think your smiths can get those paths?), etc.

The shield of gleaming gold is normally amazing against melee troops, but awe doesn't work at all on mindless units, which is why I suggested the vine shield instead, since that does.

You have assassins, though, so you could have some of those carry bags of wine and gate cleavers and sneak along with the angels (although since they'll have to siege to help bring down the walls, they'll still be vulnerable eventually), while your angels carry actual combat gear. I don't imagine you have any winged shoes to give them to let them fly to keep up with the angels, though.

If you've empowered any smiths with blood magic (this needs B2), you could make a black heart for an iron angel to turn it into an assassin, but it'd need to be made stealthy somehow first, though. There is an item that gives stealthiness, I think, but I don't remember what item it is.

[Jilladilla]

There is an item that gives stealthiness, I think, but I don't remember what item it is.

Shademail Haubergeon, Death 2 Earth 1 Paths, construction 6 research. Protection is a bit low for frontline combat though (13). No fatigue or defense malus however.

[E. Albright]

Doppleganger Amulet also gives Stealthy, though it's an artifact.

[Il Palazzo]

Using assassins against Ermor, especially expensive ones, is not terribly effective. Ermor tends to have a bazillion troops idling pretty much everywhere, waiting to be shipped to the front lines once they reach high enough numbers. There's also an abundance of freespawn commanders to take those troops and patrol the shit of everywhere and catch whatever is sneaking around.
Additionally, the multitude of freespawn shitty commanders means that it is rather unlikely to be able to target that specific one who was responsible for the global.
It seems at best a situational strategy.

[E. Albright]

The other thing about using assassins against Ermor is that their mages are almost always death, and they tend to research Enchantment, so even if you spend a fortune in gems to make sure you're not outgunned, you'll very possibly still end up being outnumbered.

[Frumple]

Shademail Haubergeon, Death 2 Earth 1 Paths, construction 6 research. Protection is a bit low for frontline combat though (13). No fatigue or defense malus however.

Const 4, actually. Probably the most fun thing to do with it is to stealth S4 casters along with your armies when the enemy is fond of mind hunt :V

Bonus points if they're being cautious and sending in scouts or whatev' to check army composition before starting the astral artillery up.

The only real problems I have with Dom4 are things like not being able to select 20 mages and set their script orders on the army management screen at once instead of having to do them all individually.

Not a complete fix for that, but you are aware you can save order sets, right? Ctrl+1-9 (or 1-0, don't quite remember) to save, then mouse over the change order thing and press the number. Still sorta' have to assign orders individually, but a mouse over and 1 button press is a lot less painful than going through the whole process. Can save a lot of time when you're mostly scripting the same things.